Kingston MobileLite Wireless: Wireless Storage Meets Portable Power

Taking the wireless hard drive category in a new direction, the Kingston MobileLite isn’t a drive at all. Unlike the company’s earlier Wi-Drive, this $70 device features a USB slot and SD Card Slot, so you can add your own storage for streaming content to your iOS or Android device. Plus, MobileLite Wireless doubles as an external battery for your phone or tablet. We took this new accessory for a spin at CTIA 2013.

Although the MobileLite Wireless is fairly long, it’s very light, because there no hard drive inside. You just pop in a memory card or USB drive, then fire up the MobileLite app on your phone or tablet. From there, users can access up to three different movies at the same time, which is great for road trips.Kingston has made some welcome improvements to its app. For example, you can easily see how much battery life is left on the MobileLite, and you can have a device connected to the wireless storage device and connected to the Web at the same time. With the previous version of the app, you couldn’t be online while connected to the drive. What’s more, the app lets you share content via the Camera Roll, Facebook, Twitter and Email.

The other selling point of the MobileLite Wireless is its built-in 1800 mAh battery, which should come in handy when you need an emergency charge for your iPhone or Android device.

Overall, the MobileLite Wireless is versatile, but it will be even more compelling when the cost comes down. A Kingston rep told us that Staples and other retailers could drop the price to as low as $50 in the near future.

Responsible for the editorial vision for Laptop Mag and Tom's Guide, Mark Spoonauer has been Editor in Chief of LAPTOP since 2003 and has covered technology for nearly 15 years. Mark speaks at key tech industry events and makes regular media appearances on CNBC, Fox and CNN. Mark was previously reviews editor at Mobile Computing, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc.